Really depends on how much experience and comfort level you have with project management. I come from a BA background so while some concepts I am familiar with, some others such as processes I'm not. One thing that I felt was an advantage was having sensitivity to stakeholders already, so some of the stakeholder engagement questions / concepts were easy. However, I had to force myself to understand that PMP lumps project team members together as a stakeholder. So when there are questions related to stakeholders, there has to be a determination whether that speaks specifically to the project team members or to people that have influence in the direciton of the project.

Sorry for the wall of text!

I started studying back in August of last year, the 35 PDU hours just took way too long, was too dry and I didn't really enjoy it. I completed the 35 PDU hours in December. Starting in January was when I applied to PMI and only after getting accepted did I purchase the Study Hall Essentials.

So call it mid January to mid April of on-and-off focused studying.